Amboseli, Samburu and the Maasai Mara linked by light aircraft for a week of varied wildlife.
Three of Kenya's great wildlife regions in a week, without a single long road day. Fly to Amboseli for elephants and Kilimanjaro, north to Samburu for rare dry-country species, then on to the Maasai Mara for lion and cheetah. Small airstrips and well-appointed camps keep the pace relaxed.
Take a scheduled light-aircraft flight from Wilson Airport to the Amboseli airstrip (about 45 to 60 minutes), where your guide meets you. You arrive at your lodge in time for lunch. An afternoon game drive across the open plains brings you close to Amboseli's famous elephant herds, with Mount Kilimanjaro rising behind them when the clouds lift.
Spend the day with some of Africa's best-studied elephant herds. Early light is the best time to see Kilimanjaro, and the swamps around Enkongo Narok draw hippo, buffalo and abundant birdlife.
Take a light-aircraft flight to Samburu (about 1 to 1.5 hours; routing via Nairobi or Arusha may apply), where your guide meets you. You arrive at your lodge on the Ewaso Ng'iro River for lunch. An afternoon game drive looks for the northern specials: reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, Somali ostrich, gerenuk and Beisa oryx, plus elephants and crocodiles on the river.
Search the riverbanks and dry bush for Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk and Beisa oryx. This is also leopard and lion country, with elephants coming to the river in the heat of the day.
Take a light-aircraft flight to Maasai Mara (about 1 to 1.5 hours; routing via Nairobi or Arusha may apply), where your guide meets you. You arrive at your camp in time for lunch, then head out on your first game drive across the open plains of the Maasai Mara, home to lion, cheetah, elephant, buffalo and vast herds of zebra and wildebeest. Dinner and a night of lion calls follow.
Leave at first light with a packed breakfast to find big cats on the open plains. Enjoy a bush picnic lunch near the hippo pools, then spend the afternoon tracking lion, cheetah, elephant and buffalo before returning at dusk.
After an early game drive and breakfast, you fly back to Wilson Airport in Nairobi (about 45 to 60 minutes). You are met and transferred to the airport for your onward flight, or to your hotel.
